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According to Vaidik tradition, Kali Yug started on 18 February 3102 BC. Among all cultures the Vaidik culture has both the longest and the shortest cycles of time to consider.  At the heart of the longest count of time is the concept of Mahaa Yug, which in Sanskrit means big or great (Mahaa) and cycles, or great cycles of time (Yug).

The four Yugs named below make up one Mahaa Yug:
Satya Yug = 1,728,000 years.
Treta Yug = 1,296,000 years.
Dwapar Yug = 864,000 years.
Kali Yug = 432,000 years.
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Total = 4,320,000 years.

One Mahaa Yug, 4,320,000 multiplied by 1,000 equals to 12 hours of Lord Brahmaa, the architect of this universe.
4,320,000 X 1,000 = 4,320,000,000 years.

During this time, the Jeev (spiritual souls) have the chance to be active, alive or "awake" and live as we know it "appears" on this Earth and on other planets in this part of the universe.
For another 12 hours of Brahmaa, in what it is known as the night of Brahmaa, everything goes to "sleep" mode to awake again on the next day of Brahmaa.

The 12 hours of Brahmaa's daylight day are divided into 14 Manvantar or great periods of time. Each one of those 14 Manvantar is equal to --
1,000 Mahaa Yug / 14 = 71 Mahaa Yug and some years or    308,571,428 years
4,320,000 years X 71 = 306,720,000 years.

Preceding the first and following each Manvantar period there is a juncture called Sandhyaa, the length of a Satya Yug, which is 1,728,000 years. Each Sandhya is like the "dawn" of a Manvantar where I suppose, Brahmaa, is preparing the 8,400,000 forms of life (84 Lakh Yoni) to be ready to welcome the souls. Once those forms are ready to be inhabited by the Jeev, the Manvantar starts to function with a ruler or coordinator called Manu. The soul at the beginning of a Manvantar is "sleeping" and when it awakens it receives from the goddess Durgaa (superintendent of the material energy), a suitable body according to the its Karm and desires of the soul. Therefore, there are 15 Sandhyaa within a Manvantar.

1,728,000 X 15 = 25,920,000 years. (To this result of 15 Sandhyaa we can notice that it is the equivalent of 100 precessions of the equinoxes. According to Vaidik astronomy, the precession of the equinoxes move at a rate of 1 degree in 72 years.
The 360 degree of a circumference multiplied by 72 years = 25,920 years.
In other words, the axis of the Earth takes some 25,920 years to "draw" a circle on the sidereal ecliptic.
Therefore, 25,920 years multiplied by 15 Sandhyaa = 25,920,000 years.

Adding up:
306,720,000 years of duration of a Manvantar, multiplied by 14 (there are 14 Manvantar in a day of Brahmaa) = 4,294,080,000
Plus 15 Sandhyaa of 25,920,000
Total = 4,320,000,000 or 12 hours of Brahmaa.

Brahmaa's life is 100 years of his time.
12 of his day hours = 4,320,000,000 years Earth years
another 12 hours of his night = 4,320,000,000 Earth years

24 hours of Brahmaa = 4,320,000,000 X 2 = 8,640,000,000 Earth years

8,640,000,000 years X 30 days  =  259,200,000,000 Earth years or one month of Brahma.

259,200,000, 000 X 12 months =  3,110,400,000,000 Earth years or one year of Brahmaa.

3,110,400,000, 000 X 100 years =  311,040,000, 000,000 Earth years or Brahma's life.

Life on earth "appears" during each one of Brahma's day and within each Manvantara. And there is a partial destruction in the universe in each Sandhyaa between Manvantar, and a total destruction at the end of Brahmaa's life. There is a period of total inactivity during each night of Brahmaa.

According to Hindu tradition Brahmaa is about 52 years old and we are now in the 28th Yug of the 7th Manvantar of his present day.

Therefore if 6 Manvantar have passed 306,720,000 X 6 = 1,840,320,000 Earth years

If 7 Sandhyaa have occurred within this day of Brahma 1,728,000 x 7 = 12,096,000 Earth years

If 27 Mahaa Yug have passed in this present Manvantar 4,320,000 x 27 = 116,640,000 Earth years

If we are in Kali Yug, three Yug have passed as follows:
Satya Yug = 1,728,000 years.
Treta Yug = 1,296,000 years.
Dwapara Yug = 864,000 years.
Total = 3,888,000 years.

By the year 2004 (18 February), 5,106 years will have passed within this present Kali Yug.

Adding up we see:
6 Manvantar = 1,840,320,000 Earth years
7 Sandhyaa = 12,096,000 Earth years
27 Mahaa Yug = 116,640,000 Earth years
3 Yug have passed = 3,888,000 Earth years
Years of present Yug = 5,106

Earth years
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Total =  1,972,949,106 Earth years ago since the beginning of the present day of Brahmaa which corresponds to the earliest forms of life found by modern science.

Actually, according to Vaidik chronology we should adjust a period of Sandhyaa of 1,728,000 years between the beginning of the day of Brahmaa and the beginning of the first Manvantar, therefore we have that
1,972,949,106 - 1,728,000 = 1,971,221,106 Earth years
ago life as we know it started with the beginning of the first Manvantar in this day of Brahmaa.

Therefore, what is known at present, as the beginning of life on earth is only the beginning of the first Manvantar of the present day of Brahmaa. If we take into consideration that the 12 hours of the night of Brahmaa lasts for 4,320,000,000 Earth years, which is a period of inactivity of life, we would expect a particular imprint on the geology of the Earth indicating the beginning of the present day of Brahmaa. In other words, 1,972,949,106 Earth years ago there was a "Big Bang" in the Universe following a period of partial destruction, which I suppose was full in many earth convulsions caused by a big volcanic activity, all this corresponding to the beginning of the present day of Brahmaa and a Sandhyaa lasting 1,728,000 Earth years. This Sandhyaa was a period of preparation for life on this planet.

If we talk in Brahmaa's terms of life, we can see this picture:
1,972,949,106 Earth years ago for the beginning of today. Expect a "Big Bang".
Plus 4,320,000,000 Earth years for the night of Brahma of "yesterday".
Plus 4,320,000,000 Earth years for the beginning of "yesterday"
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=  10,614,677,106 Earth years ago was the beginning of "yesterday". Expect a "Big Bang".

Plus 4,320,000,000 Earth years for the night of the day before "yesterday".
= 14,934,677,106 Earth years ago there was the end of activity of the day before "yesterday".

Plus 4,320,000,000 Earth years for the beginning of the day before "yesterday".
=  19,254,677,106 Earth years ago was the beginning of the day before "yesterday". Expect a "Big Bang".

We are expected to see a "BIG BANG" imprinted on the universe at the beginning of every day of Brahmaa (every 8,640,000,000 Earth years) and also a period of inactivity during each night of Brahmaa.
Also, at the beginning of each "Big Bang" we should expect a period of preparation / partial destruction lasting 1,728,000 Earth years. At the end of this we should expect the first symptoms of life, when individual consciousness start to make organism alive.
Also, we are expected to see a period of partial destruction within each Sandhyaa period before the next Manvantar starts. Therefore, we would expect the Earth's crust to show us those changes as well.

If we want to find the impact of the big bangs at the beginning of every day of Brahma, the last one occurred around 10,614,677,106 years ago.

The previous one occurred 19,254,677,106 Earth years ago.
This means a "big bang" every 8,640,000,000 Earth years, i.e.:
27,794,677,106 Earth years ago
36,434,677,106 Earth years ago
45,074,677,106 Earth years ago
53,714,677,106 Earth years ago,
and so forth back in time to the beginning of the birth of Brahmaa some 155 + trillion Earth years ago.

According to Vaidik astronomy, the day starts at sunrise, exactly when the middle of the disk of the Sun appears at the horizon. Therefore, a normal 24 hour period is counted from sunrise to the next sunrise, and not like the modern concept which takes a 24 hour day from midnight to the next midnight.

Furthermore, just before sunrise, there is a period called Brahm Muhoort, which happens every day just few minutes before the sunrise. The period of Brahm Muhoort is considered the best time for meditation and spiritual practices.

Following this belief, I feel that at the beginning of a day of Brahmaa, Brahmaa wakes up and takes advantage of "Brahm Muhoort, before the beginning of life appears with the first Manvantar.

Geologically, we should expect imprints on the earth for the beginning of Brahmaa's day some 1,972,949,106 years ago, and for each Sandhyaa that happened at the end of each of the last 6 Manvantar.

Partial Destruction
Lets now see when those partial destructions happen between Manvantar.
If we are in Kali Yug, three Yugs have passed as follows:
Satya Yug      = 1,728,000 years.
Tretaa Yug    = 1,296,000 years.
Dwaapar Yug = 864,000 years.
Total            = 3,888,000 years.

By the year 2004 (18 February), 5,106 years will have passed within this present Kali Yug.

Adding up we see:
27 Mahaa-Yug = 116,640,000 years
3 Yug have passed = 3,888,000 years
Years of present Yug = 5,106 years
Total = 120,533,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantar 7.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhyaa), means
122,261,106 years ago partial destruction began.

306,720,000 years of a Manvantar.
428,981,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantar 6.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhyaa) means
430,709,106 years ago partial destruction began.

306,720,000 years of a Manvantar.
737,429,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantara 5.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhya) means
739,157,106 years ago partial destruction began.

306,720,000 years of a Manvantar.
1,045,877,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantar 4.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhyaa) means
1,047,605,106 years ago partial destruction began.

306,720,000 years of a Manvantar.
1,354,325,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantar 3.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhya), means
1,356,053,106 years ago partial destruction began.

306,720,000 years of a Manvantar.
1,662,773,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantar 2.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhyaa) means
1,664,501,106 years ago partial destruction began.

306,720,000 years of a Manvantar.
1,971,221,106 years ago for the beginning of Manvantar 1.
and plus 1,728,000 years. (a Sandhyaa) means
1,972,949,106 years ago for the beginning of the day of Brahmaa.

Therefore, traces of destruction (drastic changes on the geology of the soils) should be found during the periods of Sandhyaa, and traces of life forms should be found during the duration of each Manvantar.
Natabara Das
25 January 2001

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